


Paper Cranes and Paper Friends

by Lxie



Series: Bedtime Stories [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Friendship/Love, M/M, Magic, bedtime story, kinda romantic if you squint, like there's a hint of something further but that's up to you, paper cranes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-03
Updated: 2017-07-03
Packaged: 2018-11-22 18:11:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11385624
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lxie/pseuds/Lxie
Summary: Legend says if you make 1,000 paper cranes you can make a wish.The legend is true.At least for a little boy named Keith.





	Paper Cranes and Paper Friends

**Author's Note:**

> This is a bedtime story for my friend Coralreefskim, sweet dreams Kim!

It was old magic. It walked among the humans in ancient times, granting boons and fulfilling wishes, but the humans became lazy, greedy for its power. It stopped its trek and soon it was reduced to legends and whispers. The delight it granted was unlimited, all of your desires at your fingertips as long as you put forth the effort. It was wondrous, dangerous, heartbreaking, and most of all…lost.

Until one day a little boy found it again.

This little boy, like the magic he found, was lost too. Perhaps that’s how he found it. The rules are simple, 1,000 paper cranes and he had the ability to wish for anything but he did not have the heart. Food, famine, unlimited water, drought, gems, gold, even war, anything his heart desires.

But what he really wanted was a friend.

He asked the magic on his 3,698th crane—adding more power to magic had the ability to speak to the ancient one but it won’t gain enough for the wish fulfillment till the next thousandth—but it replied that humans are tricky. Full of their own thoughts and inhibitions, controlling one is difficult even for the magic of the ancients, but on his 5,000th crane it will try his best.

The day he hit the 5,000th crane they came to life, flying and gliding around him until all he saw was white. A swirling tornado of his perseverance, determination, and hope. Mid-flight the cranes disintegrated, small tears forming and fragments flew and became dust. The dust settled and in their place was a boy his age. Skin tanned, chestnut hair gleaming, but his eyes were the blue of the cosmos, pupil-less and filled with stars.

The little boy finally had a friend.

But it was not to last.

They little boy and his paper companion grew close, closer than any two normal humans. Each the others’ confidante, they shared dreams, their wishes. But the boy wondered if this was because he was created for him. Wondered if their friendship was real. He questioned the magic; he wanted him as his friend of his own free will.

He doubted.

He asked the magic and it assured him that all was meant to be. His friend was just as real as the magic was. That is until the little boy’s doubt started to wither away at the boy made of paper and dreams.

The more the boy doubted the faster his friend faded. The boy tried to stop the doubts yet his one and only friend kept losing pieces of himself. His hair, fragile and wispy, left first. Then his nails blew away with a strong gust. His limbs were overcome with a yellow tinge and cracked off. His heart crumpled. Then finally his eyes, his cosmic eyes that could hold secrets and reveal universes, were the last to go.

 

* * *

 

 

The boy was alone again. With no one to blame but his insecurities. The faith he had in his friendship and in the old magic gone to dust, floating over the humans, becoming legends that eventually fade.

 

* * *

 

 

The magic knew it was a bad idea; it should’ve never tried to duplicate the complexities of the hearts of humankind. It could not cure the boy’s loneliness as it wasn’t as something simple as wishing it away.

But perhaps it could help in a different way…

 

* * *

 

 

The little boy finishes his 10,000th crane, the boy not a boy any longer but a man. He creates the cranes by habit now, not for wishes but the feeling that washes over him when the magic visits. He hasn’t wished for anything in years. He’s found that he’s not as lonely as he thought, the loyal lost magic his companion over the years.

As he finishes the last paper crane…nothing. Not the comforting wave of warmth that Keith feels that he associated with the magic. Nothing but the cool breeze that blows back his hair. His heart drops, he never thought he would lose the one thing he found and stayed.

Footsteps approach his seat, he starts to get up, to get out of the way, but a tanned hand lies on his forearm.

“It might be a little late but, if you want, I can still be your friend.”

He looks up and standing next to him with a warm smile and blue, blue eyes—eyes that no longer reveal the secrets of the universe but warmer and _there_ —is the friend he never realized he had.

His oldest friend rubs the back of his neck with his left hand. “It’s been a while since I’ve been human, it feels strange, but, the name’s Lance.” _Lance_ says, extending his arm.

Keith smiles. “Hi, Lance,” he takes his hand and pulls him into a hug. “You’ve always been my friend.”


End file.
